Ravens of Eternity

105 Staying Sharp

Over the course of a few cycles, a number of them had formed up into small skirmishing groups of eight people each. Though they had other duties to attend to, they made sure to spend at least a couple of hours practicing their hand to hand combat tactics with each other.

Every single one of them went through basic, which imparted martial training and knowledge, but only on a one-on-one basis. But reality wasn’t like that.

Perhaps they would have to deal with larger groups, or stronger individuals. Either way, they all needed to learn how to better handle these kinds of fights.

“Even if this is a great big waste of time (and I hope it isn’t),” said Eva, “what the hell else are we gonna do?”

Eva had proposed that they do uneven group skirmishing – each of the groups of eight would further split into two uneven groups. Three versus five, two versus six. That sort of thing.

“Smaller groups – focus on only defense for now. Your only job is to last as long as possible! We’ll mix in attacks later. Matches are over once every defender on the team is down, and have one defender and one attacker rotate out once a match is over.”

Every group then stepped into their respective sparring circles and began their combat practice against each other.

Of course, in Eva’s group, it was one versus seven.

“I know you can’t all surround me at once, so instead weave in and out of range. Find each others’ rhythm, keep me contained, and attack with every opening you find. Now, come at me!”

.....

A handful of them sprung forward and attacked her from multiple angles, and at different heights. One tried to strike her head while another kicked at her shins. A third came in from the side and attempted to tackle her.

Eva calculated the paths of their attacks easily, despite their combined strike. With a grin and a sidestep, she spun out of the way without any problems.

But she was immediately struck by a kick to her shoulder – one of the others had determined her path, and decided to capitalize on it. She felt a sting, but it didn’t otherwise hurt too badly, and she was barely knocked off course.

Still, she readjusted her footing to prevent getting pressed by subsequent attacks. She quickly drew her elbows in and brought up both arms defensively in preparation for the next wave of strikes.

The group spun around her while they ducked in and out of reach and did their best to keep her confused. And she made sure to keep moving, no matter what.

A stationary target was always easier to hit than a moving one.

She heard and felt thumping footsteps and felt a presence loom from behind, so she evaded with a quick step. As she did so, she heard a WHOOSH as a boot just barely grazed her side.

To her left, she heard a sharp inhale as well as a smaller, but faster presence. In response, Eva raised her arm and deflected the punch without even looking.

Though she felt as though she had gained some incredible power, perhaps the kind that flowed through every living thing in the universe and bound them. The truth was simply that her heightened senses allowed her to better predict what was happening around her.

Steps in the grass, grunts of effort, labored breaths, tremors in the air, echoes in the ground – they all spoke to her and told her what her opponents were up to.

And that allowed her to react accordingly. She would sidestep, parry, spin her way out of danger. Well, as best she could, anyway. Eva certainly made many mistakes, and had taken a number of hits here and there.

They hurt, but none were enough to take her down.

“If you’re gonna be fighting someone like me,” she said between evasions, “you gotta use group tactics to keep me disoriented. Gotta take me down the smart way – can’t take me on head-to-head. Take advantage of where I’m gonna be, not where I am, got it?”

The group hardened their resolve and went at Eva again. Like before, they wove in and out and struck from multiple angles. And like before, she evaded out of the way easily most of the time. Just as she became used to the tempo of the fight, they switched tactics on her.

Two of them charged at her shoulder-first, which she began to evade from. But as she stepped back, she was instead kicked squarely in the back. This pushed her forward again, into another kick.

This kept her in the path of her charging opponents, and they slammed into her with great force. She was knocked off balance and thrown back a couple of meters. She took a few steps to stabilize herself and make sure she didn’t fall down.

As a grin formed on her face when she fully recovered.

“Ah! Sorry! I hope we didn’t hurt you!” said the one that charged her.

She simply laughed.

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied. “Gonna need to try harder to hurt me badly anyway.”

As the Federation service members practiced, the Drogar guards who patrolled the area stopped to watch. In fact, their sparring over the past few cycles had attracted a number of them over – even those who weren’t on duty.

They also had their own martial traditions and were intrigued by how humans fought against each other. It was, in a way, a method to gain a better understanding of their enemy.

A couple of them walked up – they still had their uniforms but weren’t wearing their normal kit. Though they still had sharp, curved daggers hanging on their belts. Unlike Savoth’s dagger, these were clearly more functional and less ornamental.

“Are all of you performing mock combat?” asked one.

Eva had her group continue in a 4 vs 3 then walked over to the curious Drogar. She noted that although they too had melodic tones in their voices like Retholis and Savoth, the guards had a more austere pattern. Or perhaps more formal.

“Yeah,” she answered. “Just keeping ourselves sharp, you know?”

“We do this too,” said the Drogar. “Mostly when there’s no-one else to fight against. And not often with many against many... Usually only one versus one.”

“Oh? Why so? Is dueling a cultural thing with Drogar or something?”

“A little like that. There is great honor in defeating an opponent by oneself.”

“We’re also trained to fight one-on-one,” said Eva. “But that’s not really the reality. We train like wings when we’re in the sky, or in space, but not in close quarters. I just find it weird, you know? Why aren’t teams taught hand to hand group fighting?”

The Drogar looked over the humans as they did their exercises.

“What you say makes sense. We are taught to fight as teams everywhere except at this level as well. Perhaps we should do similarly.”

“You should join us, then. We can spar against each other, learn each others’ ways better.”

The Drogar harrumphed.

“We are clearly stronger and more vicious than you,” he said. “We would make very short work regardless of what you learn.”

“You sure about that?” Eva said.

But her provocation didn’t hook the Drogar in. Instead, he doubled down.

“In addition, we do not wish to be accused of beating on our prisoners. That would be a mighty violation of our charge.”

“What, you think we’re incapable of beating you?”

“That is another issue – you would get in trouble for attacking us. We are here to guard you – both to keep you out of trouble, and of trouble from heading to you. But you become the trouble...”

Although she was slowly teasing the Drogar towards fighting, one of the things he said stood out to her.

“Wait, hold on,” she said. “Trouble heading to us? What do you mean by that? Would other Drogar attack us?”

“There are many who hate humans deeply, sometimes for little reason. Some would certainly conspire to attack.”

Eva grinned at him.

“All the more reason we should practice together,” she said. “It would allow us to better defend ourselves from anyone who does attack us.”

“And teach you how to overpower your own guards?” he responded.

“No, of course not. We’d be developing tactics and counters together. The only people who wouldn’t benefit from this training would be our enemies.”

“If we end up facing each other anyway?”

“Well, then it comes down to whose training is better.”

The Drogar’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“You dangle a rather perilous carrot, human. But I will speak to my superiors. Perhaps they will see an opportunity. Perhaps they won’t.”

“Great!” replied Eva. “But don’t show up without any practical experience. Spar us and see how effective real training could be!”

“You will not let us go without a fight, it seems.”

“Don’t worry – I’ll take responsibility. Hopefully it won’t end in any executions... But please try not to hurt ’em too badly, alright?”

“We will refrain from killing, of course. Going easy is another matter.”

Eva agreed with a quick nod.

“We won’t learn without any pain to back it up.”

“We have a similar saying – if you do not learn after the first cut, you will suffer a second.”

Eva called out to her group and had them size each other up.

“Think you two can handle these seven? And vice versa?”

The Drogar and the humans looked at each other, and more or less agreed they could take each other down.

“We would be ashamed if we were unable,” answered a Drogar.

They entered the sparring circle and immediately bowed towards their opponents. The humans bowed back as well.

“Simple rules,” said Eva. “Get knocked down and you’re counted out. Doesn’t matter if you’re still good to fight. I’ll call out when the match is over. You all have one minute... And go!”

The humans quickly did what they had been practicing, and controlled where the Drogar were able to fight. The wove in and out and launched small unbalancing strikes, just like when they sparred with Eva.

And they were just as effective. They darted in and out, back and forth, left and right. Their multiple angles of attack and movement kept the two Drogar confused and off balance. They would do combined strikes that slowly eroded at their defenses.

Unlike Eva, they were much easier to hit, and their bodies took more damage as well.

While one group struck in from the left, another attacked from the right. It caused the two Drogar to evade in both directions, and ended up slamming into each other painfully.

As they recovered, the humans launched another multi-directional attack. They wanted to cinch the victory quickly and went in with fists drawn back.

But the two Drogar could never allow themselves to fall – not against these soft humans! Just because they were at a disadvantage didn’t mean they were done for. One immediately counter-charged a group, while the other rolled away to the side.

The one that counter-charged slammed into one of the humans, and sent him flying back a few meters. Two of them rushed him from each of his flanks and attempted to pincer him, but he simply ducked down and swatted one with his tail.

Then he sprung forward and caught the other one mid-swing and tackled him into the ground. The human simply lay on the ground completely dazed, and groaned in pain.

.....

He quickly spun around to face the one he had swatted, who was still recovering from getting the wind knocked out of them. All the Drogar did was simply sweep at his legs, and the last one fell to the ground in a heap.

His partner wasn’t doing as well. He had been surrounded by four of the humans, and they relentlessly bombarded him with strikes. They took what they learned with Eva, and knocked him around like a doll.

Though they weren’t as strong, each of their strikes were plenty enough to wear him down bit by bit. And just as he wavered and stumbled, the four of them pounced.

The first slammed into the Drogar’s back, which pushed his jaw into someone’s fist. Another kicked him on the back of one knee as another swiped at his shoulder with a high kick. Their combination attack dropped the Drogar down on all fours in defeat.

“Alright!” yelled Eva. “That’s the end! Great job everyone!”

The humans helped the Drogar up on his feet, while the other Drogar bowed to his defeated opponents. It didn’t seem as though any grudges were held, but Eva was certain that egos had been bruised.

“That was rather enlightening,” said one of the Drogar.

“For both of us,” said the other.

“All of us,” Eva said.

“Why did you not join your team?”

“Ah, well, I just needed to watch the fight. Plus, I didn’t want to unbalance the teams.”

The Drogar nodded in agreement. If they fought eight, it might have ended in a complete loss on their end.

“But if you’d like,” Eva continued. “I’ll spar the both of you. Might need a third to make it more fair, though.”